We're at sea!

We woke up at 7 this morning to be sure we’d have plenty of time to pack. I started my day by taking full advantage of the facilities – Jacuzzi tub with water pouring from the ceiling. It’s the best shower/tub combo ever. We got packed and had a small breakfast in the hotel, which turned out to be a mistake – the McDonald’s on the Passeig de Gracia had much better looking pastries. After breakfast we walked over to the P de G to see the Gaudi house. Dave tells me that the etymology of the word gaudy has nothing to do with the architect Gaudi, but you can’t prove it by me. We both though it looked very Dr Suessian and wondered if he’d been inspired by it. We were thinking about going in, but they wanted 43 euros for the two of us, which is ridiculous. Also it’s very hard to get a picture of it because there are trees in front, but we did the best we could.

We went back to our hotel, and as we got close we saw that part of the street in front of it was blocked off. Hmm, I thought, I should come down in a bit and see what that’s all about. But I got caught up in posting the Paris album on Facebook and forgot. At 11 we went down to check out, and when we told them we needed a cab they basically said no. We don’t know what the event was, but they had the streets closed off for at least a block in every direction from our hotel. We tried to walk outside the area, but we were pulling two suitcases each so we ended up heading back to the hotel. At that point things had cleared up on one of the streets, so after a bit we were able to get a cab. We kept running into blockades, and the cab driver didn’t speak English and wanted to take us to the airport, but we eventually made it to the cruise terminal and very quickly and easily got checked in and on board and into our cabin and off to the Mariner lunch, where we sat with two other couples who we didn’t like, which has only happened once before. At the check in they had signs saying that the ship was completely full, and it does feel pretty crowded, but in a good way.

After lunch we explored the ship a bit. We stopped in at the gym and discovered that the BodyFit classes, which I’ve been looking forward to, are being offered at the exact same time as my Nia classes. So that was disappointing. We went up to the crow’s nest, sometimes called 10-forward, and then outside, but they’ve put in a whole bunch of cabins up there, and then these weird private cabanas as well, so that’s not a great place to sit anymore, which is disappointing for Dave because that’s where he likes to sit to do his Sudoku. We went back to the cabin where 2 of our 4 bags had arrived, which was kind of weird – my suitcase & Dave’s garment bag, which we unpacked. Eventually my garment bag arrived with a note saying that it’s no longer allowed to bring alcohol in suitcases onto the ship and they’d taken our bottles and would return them at the end of the cruise – which is infuriating, and also strange because they’d missed the bottle in my suitcase. At 3:15 we had lifeboat drill, which is disappointing because they don’t let you wear your life preserver, and then at 4 I had my nails done – fire engine red, but no dots or sparkles – I’m enjoying them, but they are oddly plain. So all in all things were feeling kind of disappointing.

We have the early seating, and we weren’t sure how that would work after finally acclimating to the 8:30 European dinnertime. You’ll be pleased to hear that we did just fine, and we have good tablemates – Jeff and Pam from Texas (they’re from Dallas, but they don’t volunteer that information in case you are hysterical about Ebola). They have taken many cruises, but it’s their first time on Holland America. The other two couples at our table – Jim and Paula from Little Rock, and Keith and Diane from (of all places) Niles, Michigan- got on the cruise in Rome and have been married 43 years. Jim and Paula are 4 star mariners, which means they have something like 200 sea days. Keith and Diane are 3 stars like us. It’s so excellent to have a good table, especially on a long cruise like this. Our table has room for two more, so I’m hoping it fills up.

After dinner we went to the shop and I bought a couple of t-shirts, so I’m feeling pretty good about daytime wear. Then the Hal Cats were playing in the Ocean Bar, so we went and listened to them. I was hoping it would be music from the 60s-80s, but it’s American songbook again. There were lots of couples up and dancing, which is fun to watch, but it’s all the ballroom moves that we don’t know. Dave said to just sit back and enjoy the music, but I explained to him that would be like if there was a beautiful clear night and a telescope, but he couldn’t use it. I’ll figure something out. Since I can listen and type at the same time I went and got Arnold (my laptop) and did a little writing. We got some sort of package deal when we signed up for this cruise where we get 15 beverages a day, so we need to be working hard to drink enough. Fortunately our nightly club sodas in the lounges are included, so we don’t have to become alcoholics to do it.

Next up was the opening show, which was also mildly disappointing – I couldn’t tell if it was the performers or the crowd. Our cruise director, Kieren, looks like a slightly paunchy Ed Sullivan, which is odd because they’re usually young and fairly good looking. In fact most of the explorations team are a little odd looking. We did learn one useful thing, which is that the two islands we are stopping at are part of the Azores. So now you can look them up on a map. After the show we sat in the piano bar for a while, and then decided to try out the disco. There were actually people in it, and as I’m starved for dancing I danced for an hour or so. Dave left after a couple of songs and went to the crows nest to check out the guitarist. So far we haven’t landed anywhere that makes us say “this is it”, so we’ll keep drifting.

When I got back to the cabin Dave was sitting out on our verandah. It’s foggy and humid but a very pleasant temperature, so we sat out there for a while and watched the birds fly around. We don’t know what they are doing out here.

It’s been kind of a rough start to the cruise, with the missing bags and the missed expectations. The thing is, though, that you can’t ever take the same cruise twice, and you need to find the things on each ship that make you happy. So I apologize that this is a bit of a downer of a blog entry, and invite you to come back tomorrow to see how things improve.

Internet access is severely limited, so pictures will be limited also. No towel animal tonight; hoping for one tomorrow.